Farm & Food File
A syndicated column by Alan Guebert
Special Interests
Got Guts? Bet on TPP
Posted on July 15, 2015
Let’s go out on a small limb and make a big prediction: Not only will the U.S. Senate vote to give this president and the next one fast track trade authority, so too will the U.S. House of Representatives.
Moreover, and since we’re already on the limb, here are two more predictions: First, both the House […]
American Exceptionalism–Except for What We Grow
Posted on July 15, 2015
In the chaos that surrounded Congress leaving Washington, D.C. for a flag-waving Memorial Day holiday, your House Ag Committee found time May 20 to vote to kill Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL, for beef, pork, and chicken sold in the U.S.
If you carnivores out here are keeping score, the Ag Committee vote was the […]
Big Food’s Baloney
Posted on June 30, 2015
Sysco Corporation may not be a topic of dinner conversation most evenings anywhere in the U.S. but it is what many Americans are having for dinner—and lunch and breakfast—almost any day everywhere in America.
You may not have heard of Sysco, but you’ve seen ‘em.
Ever pull up to a local fast or fast casual restaurant, nearby […]
OK, When?
Posted on May 26, 2015
Spring is warmer days, blooming daffodils, and blue horizons. It’s also a good time to tap the season’s new energy and fresh hope to honestly discuss some of farming and food’s most pressing issues.
For example, global energy companies now spend more than $500 billion a year exploring for new oil, natural gas, and coal. At […]
Oink If It Smells Like Free Trade
Posted on April 22, 2015
Here’s what everybody knows about Paul Krugman: The openly partisan, twice-weekly columnist for the New York Times won the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Here’s what hardly anyone knows about Paul Krugman: The fiercely liberal Democrat and an unrepentant Keynesian is an avowed supporter of free trade.
No way, right? Oh yeah, way.
In fact, some […]
The Numbers Never Add Up
Posted on April 22, 2015
There’s little mystery to why many Americans distrust Congress: the numbers its members offer as hard facts are often exposed as pure fiction.
Take the numbers offered recently by Rep. Aaron Schock, the Illinois Republican who resigned his House seat, effective March 31, “following revelations of lavish spending, payments to donors for flights on private jets […]
What Your Friends Are Saying About You
Posted on April 3, 2015
“Nine GOP White House contenders did their best to sound more compelling and better-versed on farm-related matter than their competitors Saturday [March 7] as they were quizzed during and unusual showcase of agriculture policy on the presidential campaign trail.” (Des Moines Register, March 8.)
(Links to all stories are posted at http://live-farm-and-food-file.pantheonsite.io/in-the-news/.)
“The mood in the crowd […]
Please, Just Bruce, Not Kingmaker
Posted on March 23, 2015
We will not be attending the “Iowa Agricultural Summit,” March 7 in Des Moines because, oh dear, this is embarrassing, we were not invited.
Yes, many non-farming, political types were invited and will be there. Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Jim Gilmore […]
Who Wrote This Mess?
Posted on March 10, 2015
The low whimpering and muffled whining heard in farm country this month are not the gripes and grunts of corn and soybean growers trudging through 2015’s purgatory of under-$4 corn and less-than-$10 beans.
Instead, it’s the rising complaints of cranky farmers as they trudge out of dull meetings where Land Grant experts and Farm Service Agency […]
Big Ag’s Weak Hand in Nitrate Fight
Posted on February 25, 2015
For over a year the Des Moines Water Works has been warning every private farmer and public official in Iowa that it would sue anyone or any entity it deemed responsible for the dangerously high nitrate levels in the Raccoon River, a key source of the water it delivers to 500,000 people in and around […]